Sidewinders 'club' leader indicted on gun, drug charges

Friday

Nov 23, 2007 at 12:01 AMNov 23, 2007 at 11:17 PM

Jeffrey Dillon of Fall River, president of the Sidewinders, an affiliate of the Hells Angels, faces gun and drug charges.

Maureen Boyle

The head of a Hells Angels affiliate in southeastern Massachusetts was indicted on federal gun and drug charges, part of what prosecutors say is an ongoing criminal probe into the two motorcycle gangs.

Jeffrey Dillon, 44, of 2 Weaver St., Apt. 13, Fall River, was indicted on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

Dillon, the president of the Fall River chapter of the Sidewinders, an affiliate of Hells Angels, was charged after police searched his apartment and other spots and seized 23 firearms, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and about 50 grams of cocaine.

Authorities also found a photo showing Dillon holding a shotgun, according to paperwork filed in U.S. District court.

Dillon was described in court documents as “a leader of the Sidewinders motorcycle gang and is believed to have participated in a number of gang-related violent crime incidents.”

U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan praised the work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the Boston field office as well as Fall River police and the Bristol Count District Attorney's Office.

“This investigation resulted in the removal of the leader of a violent motorcycle gang in southeastern Massachusetts as well as the seizure of a large number of illegal firearms,” he said in a prepared statement.

The probe led authorities to obtain seven search warrants: five in Massachusetts, one in Rhode island and one in Florida.

The investigation was launched after Dillon's fiancee was found by police after she was beaten July 11, according to court papers.

After talking with the woman, police found a shotgun and ammunition in Dillon's Fall River apartment. Authorities later returned with a search warrant and found a photo of Dillon with shotgun, photographs of the Sidewinders, a law enforcement investigative techniques manual for the Hells Angels, three Winchester warranty cards, fireworks, ammunition canisters, a hollowed-out magnum piece of ammunition, four marijuana pipes with residue, 188 12-guage shotgun shells, a .22-caliber long rifle cartridge, knives, a machete, brass knuckles, more than 300 rounds of assorted ammunition, shotgun shells and cartridges and a bulletproof vest.

Dillon is a convicted felon with a record that dates to 1982, according to court papers. Felons are not allowed to possess firearms.

Court papers noted there has been a struggle for power between the Hells Angels, its affiliates and the rival group the Outlaws and its affiliates last year.

There is an Outlaws chapter in Brockton.

The case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney's Organized Crime Strike Force Unit.